Local government areas of the Northern Territory


The Northern Territory is a federal Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. It is the third largest Australian federal division with an area of but the least populous with 247,327 inhabitants as at June 2018. The Northern Territory is divided administratively into 17 Local government areas generally known as Councils who are responsible for providing local government services.

Area types

As of 1 July 2008, there were two classifications of local government in the Northern Territory:
  1. Municipalities, of which there were five; and
  2. Shires or Regions, of which there were eleven shire councils
The Northern Territory was unusual as a comparatively large share of the territory's population lived in unincorporated areas. In 2006, prior to the reorganisation of local government areas in the territory, 92 percent of the land area with 16 percent of the population, was unincorporated.
Most of the unincorporated areas disappeared as a result of local government reform in 2008. The area remaining unincorporated is, 1.47 percent of the total, and contains 3.0 percent of the population in June 2018.
By comparison, in the only other states or territories in Australia with unincorporated areas, only 0.02% of the population of New South Wales, 0.002% of Victoria's population and 0.6% of the population of South Australia, live in unincorporated areas.

Current local government areas

Former local government areas

Prior to 1 July 2008, local government areas in the Northern Territory were classified as either :